Who is Christopher Allen Lloyd? The entertainment and acting world knows him as Christopher Lloyd, he is an American actor and entrepreneur. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi.
Lloyd has used his vocal talents in animation, frequently voicing villains. He provided voice to the character The Hacker on the animated PBS series Cyberchase. Lloyd has won three Primetime Emmy Awards and an Independent Spirit Award, and has been nominated for two Saturn Awards and a Daytime Emmy Award.
Lloyd was born October 22, 1938 in Stamford, Connecticut, the son of Samuel R. Lloyd, a lawyer, and his wife Ruth (née Lapham), a singer and sister of San Francisco mayor Roger Lapham.[1] His maternal grandfather, Lewis Lapham, was one of the founders of the Texaco oil company, and Lloyd is also a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland. Lloyd attended the Fessenden School, a preparatory school in Newton, Massachusetts. Lloyd was raised in New Canaan, Connecticut, and Westport, Connecticut, where he graduated from Staples High School in 1958.
His mother, an heiress to the Lapham-Texaco oil fortune, sold her family's ancestral home, Waveny House, and its surrounding 300 acres (1.2 km2) to the town of New Canaan for $1,500,000.
His first major motion picture role was as a psychiatric patient in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Prior to this, he appeared uncredited in the 1970 film Airport.[2] However, he may be most remembered for his roles as "Reverend" Jim Ignatowski, the ex-hippie cabbie on the TV sitcom Taxi, and the eccentric inventor Emmett "Doc" Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy of science fiction films, for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award. He portrayed the villain Maj. Bartholomew 'Butch' Cavendish in The Legend of the Lone Ranger, a role he has played numerous times in various spin-offs and incarnations. He also played notable roles as Klingon Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Professor Plum in Clue, Professor Dimple in an episode of Road to Avonlea, the title role in The Pagemaster, the villain Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a wacky sound effects man named Zoltan in Radioland Murders, and Uncle Fester in the big screen adaptations of The Addams Family.
In 1994 he played an angel named Al in the movie, Angels in the Outfield. In 1999 Lloyd was reunited onscreen with Michael J. Fox in an episode of Spin City titled "Back to the Future IV — Judgment Day", where Lloyd plays Owen Kingston, Mike Flaherty's (Fox's character) former mentor who stops by City Hall to see him, only to proclaim himself as God. That same year, he starred in the movie remake of the 1960s series My Favorite Martian. Also in November 2007, Lloyd was reunited onscreen with his former Taxi co-star Judd Hirsch in the Season 4 episode "Graphic"[3] of the TV series Numb3rs. He starred in the television series Deadly Games in the mid-1990s and was a regular in the TV series Stacked in the mid-2000s.
Lloyd also acted as the star in the point-and-click adventure game Toonstruck, which was released in November 1996. He played Ebenezer Scrooge in a 2008 production of A Christmas Carol at the Kodak Theatre with John Goodman and Jane Leeves. In 2009, he appeared in a trailer for a fake horror film entitled Gobstopper, where he played Willy Wonka as a horror movie villain.[4] In October 2009, he did a two-man show with comic performer Joe Gallois in several Midwest cities. Lloyd played Mr. Goodman in the 2010 remake Piranha 3D.
In September 2010, he reprised his role as Doctor Emmett Brown in Back to the Future: The Game, an episodic adventure game series being developed by Telltale Games.[5][6]
In the summer of 2010, he starred as Willy Loman in a Weston Playhouse production of Death of a Salesman.[7]
On its January 21, 2011, episode, he appeared in the J.J. Abrams television series Fringe.[8]
In August 2011 he was hired as the character of Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future by Garbarino[9] appliance company in Argentina, to an advertising campaign, and also worked for Nike, in the campaign "Back For the Future" for the benefit of The Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Lloyd seldom appears in public or gives interviews. Lloyd has been
married four times but he has never had children. His nephew, Sam Lloyd, is best known for playing Ted Buckland, the lawyer on Scrubs.
Lloyd's home was destroyed in the Tea Fire of November 2008 in Montecito, California.
At a Q&A session at a Back to the Future trilogy showing in Hollywood in the summer of 2009, Lloyd was asked which of the Back to the Future films was his favorite. He responded "the third one, because for one thing it's a Western and I'm a fan of those, and second, it had a love story. I had always wanted to be in a love story and here I got a chance to be at the center of one". Nearly a year later on May 1, 2010, he appeared at an outdoor screening of Back to the Future held by the Tampa Theatre at The River Tower Park in Tampa, Florida, where he participated in another Q&A.[10]
Lloyd appeared at a 25th anniversary screening of Back to the Future in February 2010 at the Hollywood Blvd. Theater in Woodridge, Illinois, along with Lea Thompson, Claudia Wells, and James Tolkan. All the proceeds were donated to The Michael J. Fox Foundation. On June 5, 2012, Mr. Lloyd appeared with Bob Gale for a screening of a completely digitally restored Back to the Future and a Q&A session at the Pollock Theater at UC Santa Barbara. During the appearance he participated in a brief script reading which ended with Doc Brown's immortal pronouncement "If my calculations are correct, when the car hits 88 miles an hour, you're gonna see some serious shit!".Lloyd appeared with Marty MacFly (Michael J. Fox).
Lloyd has used his vocal talents in animation, frequently voicing villains. He provided voice to the character The Hacker on the animated PBS series Cyberchase. Lloyd has won three Primetime Emmy Awards and an Independent Spirit Award, and has been nominated for two Saturn Awards and a Daytime Emmy Award.
Early life
His mother, an heiress to the Lapham-Texaco oil fortune, sold her family's ancestral home, Waveny House, and its surrounding 300 acres (1.2 km2) to the town of New Canaan for $1,500,000.
Career
Lloyd began acting by age 14 and started apprenticing in summer stock. He took acting classes in New York City at age 19, some at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Sanford Meisner. He appeared in several Broadway productions, including Happy End, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Red, White and Maddox, Kaspar, The Harlot and the Hunted, The Seagull, Total Eclipse, Macbeth, In the Boom Boom Room, Cracks, Professional Resident Company, What Every Woman Knows, And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers, The Father, King Lear, and Power Failure.His first major motion picture role was as a psychiatric patient in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Prior to this, he appeared uncredited in the 1970 film Airport.[2] However, he may be most remembered for his roles as "Reverend" Jim Ignatowski, the ex-hippie cabbie on the TV sitcom Taxi, and the eccentric inventor Emmett "Doc" Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy of science fiction films, for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award. He portrayed the villain Maj. Bartholomew 'Butch' Cavendish in The Legend of the Lone Ranger, a role he has played numerous times in various spin-offs and incarnations. He also played notable roles as Klingon Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Professor Plum in Clue, Professor Dimple in an episode of Road to Avonlea, the title role in The Pagemaster, the villain Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a wacky sound effects man named Zoltan in Radioland Murders, and Uncle Fester in the big screen adaptations of The Addams Family.
In 1994 he played an angel named Al in the movie, Angels in the Outfield. In 1999 Lloyd was reunited onscreen with Michael J. Fox in an episode of Spin City titled "Back to the Future IV — Judgment Day", where Lloyd plays Owen Kingston, Mike Flaherty's (Fox's character) former mentor who stops by City Hall to see him, only to proclaim himself as God. That same year, he starred in the movie remake of the 1960s series My Favorite Martian. Also in November 2007, Lloyd was reunited onscreen with his former Taxi co-star Judd Hirsch in the Season 4 episode "Graphic"[3] of the TV series Numb3rs. He starred in the television series Deadly Games in the mid-1990s and was a regular in the TV series Stacked in the mid-2000s.
Lloyd also acted as the star in the point-and-click adventure game Toonstruck, which was released in November 1996. He played Ebenezer Scrooge in a 2008 production of A Christmas Carol at the Kodak Theatre with John Goodman and Jane Leeves. In 2009, he appeared in a trailer for a fake horror film entitled Gobstopper, where he played Willy Wonka as a horror movie villain.[4] In October 2009, he did a two-man show with comic performer Joe Gallois in several Midwest cities. Lloyd played Mr. Goodman in the 2010 remake Piranha 3D.
In September 2010, he reprised his role as Doctor Emmett Brown in Back to the Future: The Game, an episodic adventure game series being developed by Telltale Games.[5][6]
In the summer of 2010, he starred as Willy Loman in a Weston Playhouse production of Death of a Salesman.[7]
On its January 21, 2011, episode, he appeared in the J.J. Abrams television series Fringe.[8]
In August 2011 he was hired as the character of Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future by Garbarino[9] appliance company in Argentina, to an advertising campaign, and also worked for Nike, in the campaign "Back For the Future" for the benefit of The Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Personal life
Lloyd's home was destroyed in the Tea Fire of November 2008 in Montecito, California.
At a Q&A session at a Back to the Future trilogy showing in Hollywood in the summer of 2009, Lloyd was asked which of the Back to the Future films was his favorite. He responded "the third one, because for one thing it's a Western and I'm a fan of those, and second, it had a love story. I had always wanted to be in a love story and here I got a chance to be at the center of one". Nearly a year later on May 1, 2010, he appeared at an outdoor screening of Back to the Future held by the Tampa Theatre at The River Tower Park in Tampa, Florida, where he participated in another Q&A.[10]
Lloyd appeared at a 25th anniversary screening of Back to the Future in February 2010 at the Hollywood Blvd. Theater in Woodridge, Illinois, along with Lea Thompson, Claudia Wells, and James Tolkan. All the proceeds were donated to The Michael J. Fox Foundation. On June 5, 2012, Mr. Lloyd appeared with Bob Gale for a screening of a completely digitally restored Back to the Future and a Q&A session at the Pollock Theater at UC Santa Barbara. During the appearance he participated in a brief script reading which ended with Doc Brown's immortal pronouncement "If my calculations are correct, when the car hits 88 miles an hour, you're gonna see some serious shit!".Lloyd appeared with Marty MacFly (Michael J. Fox).
Filmography
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1970 | Airport | Patron in diner | Uncredited |
1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Max Taber | |
1978 | Goin' South | Deputy Towfield | |
Taxi (TV) | Reverend Jim Ignatowski | Emmy Award[11] for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series | |
Three Warriors | Steve Chaffey | ||
1979 | The Onion Field | Jailhouse lawyer | |
The Lady in Red | Frognose | ||
1980 | Schizoid | Gilbert | |
1981 | The Legend of the Lone Ranger | Maj. Bartholomew 'Butch' Cavendish | |
1983 | Mr. Mom | Larry | |
To Be or Not to Be | S.S. Captain Schultz | ||
1984 | Cheers (TV) | Phillip Semenko | Episode “I'll Be Seeing You” (season 2, episode 21) |
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock | Klingon Commander Kruge | ||
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension | John Bigbooté | ||
National Lampoon's Joy of Sex | Coach Hindenberg | ||
1985 | Back to the Future | "Doc" Emmett L. Brown | Nomination - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor |
Clue | Professor Plum | ||
Street Hawk (TV) | Anthony Corrido | Special guest star in pilot episode | |
1986 | Miracles | Harry | |
1987 | Walk Like a Man | Reggie Shand / Henry Shand | |
1988 | Track 29 | Henry Henry | |
Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Judge Doom | Nomination - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor | |
Eight Men Out | Bill Burns | ||
1989 | The Dream Team | Henry Sikorsky | |
Back to the Future Part II | "Doc" Emmett L. Brown | ||
1990 | Back to the Future Part III | "Doc" Emmett L. Brown | |
Why Me? | Bruno Daley | ||
DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp | Merlock the Magician | Voice talent | |
1991 | Back to the Future: The Ride | "Doc" Emmett L. Brown | Simulator ride |
Back to the Future: The Animated Series | Doc Emmett L. Brown | Human parts | |
Suburban Commando | Charlie Wilcox | ||
The Addams Family | Uncle Fester Addams | ||
1992 | Amazing Stories: Book Two (TV) | Professor B.O. Beanes | |
Road to Avonlea (TV) | Professor Dimple-Guest star role | Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | |
T bone 'N' Weasel | William 'Weasel' Weasler | ||
Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster | Frank Iarossi | ||
1993 | Dennis the Menace | Switchblade Sam | |
Addams Family Values | Uncle Fester Addams | ||
Twenty Bucks | Jimmy | Independent Spirit Award | |
1994 | Angels in the Outfield | Al "The Boss" Angel | |
Camp Nowhere | Dennis Van Welker | ||
The Pagemaster | Mr. Dewey / The Pagemaster | ||
In Search of Dr. Seuss | Mr. Hunch | ||
Radioland Murders | Zoltan: Eccentric sound designer | ||
Felidae | Joker | English dub | |
1995 | Rent-a-Kid | Lawrence 'Larry' Kayvey | |
Deadly Games | Jordan Kenneth Lloyd / Sebastian Jackal | ||
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead | Pieces | ||
1996 | Cadillac Ranch | Wood Grimes | |
Toonstruck | Drew Blanc | Point-and-click adventure game | |
1997 | Quicksilver Highway | Aaron Quicksilver | |
Anastasia | Grigori Rasputin | Voice talent | |
Angels in the Endzone | Al "The Boss" Angel | ||
The Real Blonde | Ernst | ||
1999 | My Favorite Martian | Uncle Martin | |
Alice in Wonderland | The White Knight | ||
Baby Geniuses | Heep | ||
Convergence | Morley Allen | Original film title: Premonition | |
Man on the Moon | Jim Ignatowski,Taxi Remake | ||
Spin City | Owen Kingston | ||
It Came From the Sky | Jarvis Moody | ||
2001 | Wit | Dr. Harvey Kelekian | |
When Good Ghouls Go Bad | Uncle Fred Walker | ||
Kids World | Leo | ||
The Tick (TV) | Mr FishLadder | (uncredited) (pilot episode) | |
2002 | Interstate 60 | Ray | |
Wish You Were Dead | Bruce | ||
Hey Arnold!: The Movie | Coroner | ||
Cyberchase (TV) | Hacker | Voice talent and lead role | |
The Big Time (TV) | Doc Powers[12] | ||
2003 | Haunted Lighthouse | Cap'n Jack | |
Tremors (TV) | Cletus Poffenberger | ||
2004 | I Dream (TV) | Prof. Toone | |
Malcolm in the Middle (TV) | Hal's Father | ||
2005 | Stacked (TV) | Professor Harold March | |
Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie | Seymour S. Sassafrass | ||
Bad Girls From Valley High | Mr. Chauncey | ||
The West Wing (TV) | Lawrence Lessig | Portrayed the real life Lawrence Lessig | |
2006 | A Perfect Day (TV) | Michael | |
Valerie on the Stairs (TV) | Everett Neely | Episode of Masters of Horror | |
2007 | Numb3rs (TV) | Ross Moore | |
2008 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent (TV) | Carmine | Episode Vanishing Act |
Fly Me to the Moon | Grandpa | ||
The Tale of Despereaux | Hovis | ||
2009 | Meteor (TV) | Dr. Lehman | |
Knights of Bloodsteel (TV) | Tesselink | ||
Call of the Wild | 'Grandpa' Bill Hale | ||
Foodfight! | Mr. Clipboard | ||
Santa Buddies | Stan Cruge | ||
2010 | Piranha 3-D | Mr. Goodman | |
The Chateau Meroux | Nathan | ||
Snowmen | The Caretaker | ||
Chuck (TV) | Dr. Leo Dreyfus | Episode S03E16: "Chuck Versus the Tooth" | |
Jack and the Beanstalk | Headmaster | ||
Back to the Future: The Game | Doctor Emmett "Doc" Brown | Video game | |
2011 | Fringe (TV) | Roscoe Joyce | Episode S03E10: "The Firefly" |
Love, Wedding, Marriage | Dr. George | ||
Last Call | Pete | post-production | |
2012 | Dorothy and the Witches of Oz | Wizard of Oz[13] | |
Piranha 3DD | Mr. Goodman | post-production | |
Thicker | Augustine | filming | |
Excuse Me For Living | Lars[14] | filming |
Awards
Year | Award | Category | Production / Role | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1973 | Drama Desk Award | Best Performance | Kaspar | Won |
1982 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series | Taxi | Won |
1986 | Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Back to the Future | Nominated |
1990 | Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Nominated |
1992 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | Road to Avonlea | Won |
1994 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Supporting Male | Twenty Bucks | Won |
2001 | DVD Exclusive Awards | Best Actor | When Good Ghouls Go Bad | Nominated |
2008 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program | Cyberchase | Nominated |